Tuesday, July 13, 2010

First Annual Nuts and Bolts Conference

The Nuts and Bolts Conference was simply right on. It was inspiring, it gave a lot of new ideas, it made me sing. It was held at the Society (Society of Illustrators in NYC) which is simply a shrine to anyone who is in love with illustration. Charles Hively and his team did an amazing job organizing the event. After attending the Illustration Academy last summer where we had a whole lecture week with 4-5 speakers each day I thought there would probably be not that much more new to hear. I was wrong. The speakers were young, but successful with very personal and different stories to tell. Not a single one of them had a very easy and straightford way to where his or her career is today. When we work at home or look for jobs, all we see is the success that these guys have, the annuals, the articles, etc. But it is so important to know the struggles, the beginning. Every single one had doubts, obstacles, fears and failures, but they are stubborn and they just kept going.

We also made a trip to the Pencil Factory, which has studios of many young illustrators. I was so excited to see the studios because I heard so much about them and I finally had a chance to see them. I hope we didn’t disrupt the artists’ work too much.

Since the Illustration Academy last summer this conference was the most inspirational and educational atmosphere I was in. It’s a beautiful thing to be surrounded by the people who are as passionate and obsessed with illustration as you are.